When one thinks of possible hobbies in sunny South Florida, knitting doesn’t jump to the fore. Macramé, sand art, and clamshell ashtrays all rank higher on the recognition scale than the idea of knitting down here. But hold your horses, jenny. In case you haven’t heard, knitting has been back with a vengeance in most of the rest of the country, with super-hip alterna-knitting circles, books, blogs, and sites like knitty.com and knitknit leading the way. It’s even being used for guerilla art. Yes, this isn’t your grandma’s knitting, folks. Which is why the Yarn It! Lounge at ArtCenter/South Florida is such a cool idea. (Don’t just take my word for it.) Forward thinking art-minded institution meets fantastic mixing opportunity.Here’s a chance to come together, scope out some like minded-people, screw around with some stringy stuff, and maybe cultivate a new pastime. At only $10.00 per, including coffee, treats, and expert advice, this is one of the best deals in town. Don’t feel like making a sweater? Then how about a monster. Or a super-chic clutch. Or a weasel. And of course, there’s always edible underwear. Sweet!

BTW: If you’ve never checked out ArtCenter/South Florida, you’re way past due. In addition to this great activity, they have a killer schedule of all kinds of educational opportunities. Lectures, drawing, jewelry making, photography and tons more. They’re just the place to cultivate your chops so you actually have something to say on your next crawl around Wynwood besides “Where’s the wine?”.

AMBITION BONUS: Check out this two-part video workshop by MAKE magazine on how to create a pattern in photoshop for a f*&%$#! awesome skeleton cardigan. (It would take many, many Yarn It! Lounges to carry this off, but you can always dream.)